The challenges and skills required in reporting religion in a rapidly changing society were considered in depth at the fifth Religion Media Festival held at the JW3 Centre in north London on 12 June. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, gave the keynote speech welcoming the challenge and scrutiny of journalists in a world of “misinformation, distraction, and the competition of noise with truth”. In a wide ranging interview with ITN's Julie Etchingham, he went on to say that declining attendance in the Church of England was a personal failure; the global Anglican church doesn’t need to be run by “a white guy from England”; people who fail to welcome the stranger – migrants – will face terrible consequences; and in an illuminating anecdote, he revealed that he practised crowning the king and queen in their bedroom in the days before the coronation. His contribution was the culmination of a packed programme of panel discussions, interviews and comment, exploring the relationship between religion and the media. Films of all the sessions are on our YouTube channel.

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